MoU will further strengthen the existing relationship between the UK and Singapore in the areas of digital government public services
The United Kingdom (U.K.) and Singapore today, i.e., July 4, 2022 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in the design and delivery of digital Government public services.
The MoU will remain in effect for 3 years and supports the long-standing partnership between the two nations. The MoU follows the signing of the U.K.-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (UKSDEA) that came into force on June 14, 2022.
The MoU was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of GovTech Singapore – Mr. Kok Ping Soon and Chief Executive Officer and Director General of Government Digital Service (GDS) U.K. – Mr. Tom Read.
Taking it to twitter, GDS tweeted,
We're pleased to have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore's @GovTechSG, making a commitment to explore new ways of working on digital government services.
— GDS (@GDSTeam) July 4, 2022
Read more about it here: https://t.co/VzOTKSjbTj https://t.co/TNjprHe3di pic.twitter.com/3Kn7RUDaTT
GovTech tweeted,
A new MoU was signed today between the @GDSTeam #UK and @GovTechSG #Singapore to share know-how and explore new ways of working on #DigitalGovernment services. #TechForPublicGood pic.twitter.com/dRbOs7tRbj
— GovTech (Singapore) (@GovTechSG) July 4, 2022
The MoU will not only cover sharing know-how and approaches to building digital services, but also explore new ways of working that help build more effective, efficient and economical Government digital services in the long term.
Both the U.K. and Singapore are widely recognised as digital leaders and take an active role in shaping international standards and discussions in the digital Government space. In recent years, Singapore has invested heavily in Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT), taking a holistic digital society approach by investing in their digital infrastructure, developing private sector digital capability and setting aspirational digital Government agendas.
The first MoU between GDS and GovTech was signed in 2019. Since then, GDS and GovTech have held knowledge exchanges on life event design approaches, with a particular focus on priority events, personalisation and use of data to underpin this work. They have also started exchanging knowledge and working toward mutual recognition of U.K. and Singapore digital identities through pilots. GDS supported a review of the data security regime in Singapore’s public sector. The GDS Information Assurance Unit had shared their experience and best practices on data security, which helped Singapore’s Public Sector Data Security Review Committee (PSDSRC) in developing recommendations on data security processes and initiatives.
In October 2020, GDS and GovTech met to discuss respective national cloud strategies, with a particular focus on standards, security and the types of data that can be held in different environments.
The GDS also participates in 2 multilateral working groups for the Digital Government Exchange (DGX), an annual high-level conference run by the Singapore Government and attended by international public sector leaders from jurisdictions that have made significant progress in digital Government.
